5 articles published in JoVE

• Chemistry

  
  Color Spot Test As a Presumptive Tool for the Rapid Detection of Synthetic Cathinones Morgan Philp¹, Ronald Shimmon¹, Mark Tahtouh², Shanlin Fu^{1 1}Centre for Forensic Science, University of Technology Sydney (UTS), ²Australian Federal Police (AFP) Here we present a simple, inexpensive, and selective chemical spot test protocol for the detection of synthetic cathinones, a class of new psychoactive substances. The protocol is suitable for use in various areas of law enforcement that encounter illicit material.

• Biochemistry

  
  Optimal Preparation of Formalin Fixed Samples for Peptide Based Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Mass Spectrometry Imaging Workflows Matthew B. O'Rourke^1,2, Matthew P. Padula², Caine Smith³, Priscilla Youssef⁴, Stuart Cordwell¹, Paul Witting⁴, Greg Sutherland³, Ben Crossett^{1 1}Mass Spectrometry Core Facility, University of Sydney, ²Proteomics Core Facility, University of Technology Sydney, ³Neuropathology Group, Discipline of Pathology, School of Medical Sciences, University of Sydney, ⁴Redox Biology Group, Discipline of Pathology, School of Medical Sciences, University of Sydney This protocol describes a reproducible and reliable method for the sublimation-based preparation of formalin fixed tissue destined for imaging mass spectrometry.

• Medicine

  
  Imaging Metals in Brain Tissue by Laser Ablation - Inductively Coupled Plasma - Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) Dominic J. Hare^1,2, Kai Kysenius³, Bence Paul⁴, Beate Knauer^5,6, Robert W. Hutchinson⁷, Ciaran O'Connor⁷, Fred Fryer⁸, Tom P. Hennessey⁸, Ashley I. Bush², Peter J. Crouch³, Philip A. Doble^{1 1}Elemental Bio-imaging Facility, University of Technology Sydney, ²Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, The University of Melbourne, ³Department of Pathology, The University of Melbourne, ⁴School of Earth Sciences, The University of Melbourne, ⁵Research School, Ruhr University, ⁶Department of Physiology, Monash University, ⁷ESI Ltd., Bozeman, ⁸Agilent Technologies, Mulgrave Quantitatively mapping metals in tissue by laser ablation - inductively coupled plasma - mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) is a sensitive analytical technique that can provide new insight into how metals participate in normal function and disease processes. Here, we describe a protocol for quantitatively imaging metals in thin sections of mouse neurological tissue.

• Biology

  
  Super-resolution Imaging of the Cytokinetic Z Ring in Live Bacteria Using Fast 3D-Structured Illumination Microscopy (f3D-SIM) Lynne Turnbull*¹, Michael P. Strauss*¹, Andrew T. F. Liew¹, Leigh G. Monahan¹, Cynthia B. Whitchurch¹, Elizabeth J. Harry^{1 1}The ithree Institute, University of Technology, Sydney Spatiotemporal information about dynamic proteins inside live cells is crucial for understanding biology. A type of super-resolution microscopy called fast 3D-structured illumination microscopy (f3D-SIM) reveals unique information about the cytokinetic Z ring in bacteria: both its bead-like appearance and the rapid dynamics of FtsZ within the ring.

• Biology

  
  Isolation of Small Noncoding RNAs from Human Serum Samantha Khoury¹, Pamela Ajuyah¹, Nham Tran^{2,3 1}School of Medical and Molecular Biosciences, Faculty of Science, University of Technology, Sydney, ²Centre for Health Technologies, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, University of Technology, Sydney, ³The Sydney Head and Neck Cancer Institute, Sydney Cancer Centre, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital This protocol describes a method for extracting small RNAs from human serum. We have used this method to isolate microRNAs from cancer serum for use in DNA arrays and also singleplex quantitative PCR. The protocol utilizes phenol and guanidinium thiocyanate reagents with modifications to yield high quality RNA.